Under my Skin
by sparklenvy
Summary: Now being re-worked/re-written under the title "The Secret's in the Telling". Please go check it out :
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Under my Skin

**Part: **1?

**Author:** Sara

**Rating:** Teen

**Pairing:** Derek/Casey

**Summary: **There are moments in everyone's life where the world changes forever. Casey knows that this is one of those moments. She's been having a lot of them lately.

There are moments in everyone's life where the world changes forever. It tilts on its axis and nothing will ever be the same again, no matter how hard you try to put things back to the way they were.

Casey knows that this is one of those moments.

She's been having a lot of them lately.

They're getting easier to identify. Casey's not sure whether or not that's a good thing.

She hasn't, however, been able to find any logical way to predict the changes that these moments will bring. It makes her feel uneasy and knots up her insides.

It's all that she can think about as she watches her mother pace back and forth across the warn carpet of Derek's dorm room as she sits inches away from him on the couch. She doesn't look at him or George, who's settled in the chair across from them. Although she's sure that his face is painted with concern, parallel of that to her mothers.

Instead, she pulls her knees to her chest and wraps herself tighter in the blanket around her shoulders. It's a vain attempt to hide the fact she was unable to retrieve her bra from wherever Derek had thrown in earlier. She was pretty sure it was somewhere between the couch and the make-shift kitchen table but she can't bring herself to look for it.

If anyone else had noticed it, they hadn't said so. Instead, a heavy silence filled the room which was only broken by the occasional muffled voice of Derek's roommate from outside the dorm's door. Casey had been able to pick up the words "step-sister" and "pervert" several times before she had finally begun to tune him out.

After what seemed like several hours, although it was probably no more than a few minutes, her mother finally turned to her with worry in her eyes and kneeled in front of her daughter.

"Casey, when did this all start?" her mother asks; her voice weak. The only other time Casey could remember her mother sounding this fragile was after her father left and she had been explaining to her how they were going to live with Grandma for awhile.

Casey closes her eyes and tilts her head back until it came in contact with the couch. She can feel Derek's hand as it slips under the blanket and brushes against her arm. It's calming, which is an effect that Derek rarely has on her. Normally his touch lights her on fire, whether with passion or rage depends on the moment.

She takes a deep breathe and ponders the question. Casey's not sure how to answer her mother, she and Derek had never really a defining moment in their relationship. Was it the day they first met, a week before the wedding, with Casey realizing a little too late the cute boy across the restaurant was soon to be her step-brother.

Could it have been the first real fight, their breathe becoming heavy as their bodies pressed up against each other in a battle to win the remote. She remembers that it had left her hot and sweaty with a strange sense of longing after her mother and George had pulled them apart.

Or was it the firs time they had put aside their difference and worked together, proving that they were stronger as a team than as opponents. Not that either of them would ever admit to it at the time.

Casey realized than that although they lacked a defining moment, she knew the instance that had triggered the transition from repressed sexual tension to the situation they were currently in.

"Michigan" Casey finally answered, finally looking over at Derek to gage his reaction. "It all started in Michigan."

**xXx**

It had been the summer after Derek and Casey graduated high school when George and Nora had suggested taking a family vacation. It was a result of the realization that come fall, their two oldest children would be moving an hour away to the University and that family time would be reserved only for summer vacation and holidays.

The first week of June they had packed up their bags and made the days drive to Mackinaw City, Michigan. Casey knew that the place was a tourist trap but her mother had visited it as a teenager and had always longed to go back.

She had slept most of the way there, her face pressed up against the cool glass of the window in the backseat. Derek had managed to keep Marti, who sat between the two of them, occupied for most of the trip and she was secretly thankful for that.

Derek had awoken her with a gentle shove as they began to cross the Mackinaw Bridge.

"Thought you might want to see this," he whispered softly in order to not wake up Marti, who had fallen asleep with her head in his lap.

The two had been on better terms with each other since the beginning of their senior year, when they had entered in a pseudo-friendship shortly after Derek began to date Emily. The less they fought with each other the smoother their respective relationships with Emily and Sam went.

They still bickered and fought around the house but even those, after three years of living together, had became more playful than malicious.

Despite the fact that the arrangement had made Casey's life less chaotic it had never felt right to her. It was like being caught in a thick fog, everything was dull and blurry. It paled in comparison to the vivid colors that her fights with Derek years earlier had made her see, not that she had understood at the time what that meant.

Casey had rationalized that there was comfort with consistently. She had known what to expect from Derek when they were at odds with each other.

She had hoped that after he broke up with Emily over Christmas vacation that things would go back to the way they were before.

They hadn't.

Even after she and Sam had ended their relationship a month earlier, something that hadn't upset Casey nearly as much as she had expected it to, the after effects of their truce lingered on.

"Thanks," she answered as she pulled herself out of her train of thought, turning her attention back to the large bridge that connected the two peninsulas of Michigan. The waves of the lake splashed violent below them as they drove the several miles across it.

The rest of the afternoon turned out to be more fun than she was expecting it to be. They had parked their car and walked around the city as they looked at all the little shops, eaten some of the best fudge that she had ever tasted and finished off the night at with dinner at Piggily Wiggly, a pig theme restaurant that Marti had loved.

"George, it's getting pretty late. I think it's time we called it a night," Nora suggested as the family poured back into their car.

They had driven around to the numerous hotels for the next hour, attempting to find one which still offered two empty rooms next to each other. Finally, George returned to the car with two hotel room cards in his hand.

"Finally," Derek groaned in response, stretching his arms above his head and yawning. "Can we sleep now?"

"We have to decide how we're going to split up first," Nora explained, leaning back to look at them.

"I want to stay with Smerek!" Marti declared, bouncing up and down in her seat.

"Sure, Smarti," Derek had replied, ruffling her hair with his hand.

"Well, that's the problem," George started, look over at his wife. "The one room has two queen beds but the other only has one king. It's the best we can do, unless you want to try a few more hotels."

"No!" everyone in the car had declared, the business of the day finally catching up with them. Casey wanted nothing more than to crawl into a comfy bed and fall asleep.

After twenty minutes of debating which combinations made the most sense, with Marti pouting whenever an option came up where she didn't stay in the same room as Derek, Casey had had enough. "Mom, why don't you take the two queen beds with George, Edwin and Lizzie. I can share with Marti and Derek."

"You sure?" her mother asked, her eyes drifting between them. "You two don't really, well, get along."

"It's only for two nights, I think we can handle it," Casey replied.

"Works for me," Derek agreed, as Marti bounced excitedly next to him.

"Then I guess it's decided," George declared, handing Derek the room key.

If Casey had known the chain of events her suggestion would put into play, she was sure she would have never breathed a word of it. But at the time, as she gathered her bags and followed Derek and Marti up the stairs, she could only feel relief at the notion of fluffy pillows and warm sheets awaiting her. Even if she _did_ have to share with Derek.

**xXx**

_There's chapter one of my fic. Please give me feedback, whether it's good or bad. Not to mention, the more feedback I get the more encouraged I'm going to be to write more sooner. I can be a slacker so all the encourage to write part two will help. I hope you guys liked it!_**  
**


	2. Chapter 2

_Don't own **Life with Dere**. Enjoy chapter two._

**xXx**

The first night Casey spent in the hotel room with Derek passed without incident.

By the time that Casey had changed into her pajamas and left the bathroom, both Derek and Marti were already fast asleep on the bed. She crawled under the covers next to Marti and soon drifted off.

Morning had seemed to come to fast, the harsh buzzing of the cheap alarm clock waking Casey at the crack of dawn from her deep sleep. She had decided to shower and dress before attempting to try and wake her two step-siblings. She ended up having to enlist Marti's help to get Derek up, which resulted in the two of them jumping up and down on the bed calling his name over and over again.

"Crazy," Derek mumbled, finally rolling out of bed. "You're both completely crazy!"

Half an hour later the three joined the rest of their family outside their hotel rooms before they headed into town.

"What are we doing today," Edwin asked over breakfast, his mouth stuffed full of bacon and scrambled eggs.

"I thought we could visit Mackinac Island," Nora had answered. "And don't eat with your mouth full, Edwin."

"We can bike around the island," George added on, mixing sugar into his coffee.

"Eww," Derek replied. "I thought the whole point of a vacation was to have fun."

"It only takes a couple of hours and it's beautiful scenery. I'm sure you'll love it once we get started," Nora corrected.

"Mom, would you mind if I missed the bike ride? I hate to agree with Derek, but two hours of physical exertion really isn't my idea of a good time," Casey gently asked, pulling out a brochure she had grabbed the previous day. "And I was reading up about the island and there are a few spots I was hoping to check out."

"Only you would do research on vacation," Derek chirped in, "But if Casey's staying in town, so am I."

"I was hoping we would spend this vacation together, as a family," Nora encouraged, looking over at George for support.

"It's only two hours, honey. I don't think it will hurt to let them have a little fun on their own," he replied, before catching her eyes and quickly trying to correct his mistake. "Or they could come with us on the bike ride."

"Come on, Mom. Please?" Casey begged, tilting her head to the side and trying to sound as sweet as possible.

"I suppose," Nora finally caved, and Casey let out a squeal of joy. "But only if you stay with Derek. I don't like the idea of you wandering around the island by yourself."

"I'll stick to her like glue," Derek joked, and Casey eyed him.

"You're voluntarily spending the day with me? Are you feeling okay?" Casey whispered later as they had left the restaurant.

"Trust me, I'm choosing between the lesser of two evils here," he joked, before turning his attention back to Marti who was bouncing excitedly around him.

**xXx**

Casey wondered what possessed her to think that spending the day with Derek would have worked out. She had spent the rest of that morning marking which attractions she wanted to visit most and figuring out what would be the most effective order to view them in.

But as soon as they had said goodbye to their family, who had gone off to find the nearest bike rental shop after arriving on the island, Derek had taken off down the road without a word to Casey.

"Where do you think you're going?" She called out, running after him. Derek just shrugged in response. "We're suppose to stay together."

"Then be sure to follow closely," Derek smirked, jumping out the way of the horse drawn carriage that was making its way down the road. "Why are there horses?"

"The island doesn't allow cars so they still use horses. Speaking of which, you might want to look down." Casey replied and smiled as Derek jumped away from the pile of horse droppings he was about to step in.

"That is disgusting," Derek groaned, pulling Casey off the road and back onto the sidewalk.

"You're welcome," Casey sarcastically replied, pulling the map of the island out of her pocket. "Now, the fort is to our right so we just take this road…"

"Or we could go here," Derek interrupted, stopping to stare up at the dark building that loomed before them. It would have been eerie if not for the ticket booth and huge sign which read "Haunted Wax Museum"

"You would rather go to a haunted house than see a historical land mark?" Casey asked, staring up at the building in disgust.

"Most teenagers would," Derek sighed, grabbing her wrist and pulling her up the steps. Casey could felt herself pouting as Derek bought them a pair of tickets and unenthusiastically followed him into the dark, slender hallway.

**xXx**

"I still can't believe how scared you were," Derek laughed forty minutes later, as he sat down on the sandy beach. Casey had completely abandoned any hope of following her plan for the day and reluctantly agreed with Derek to walk several miles out of town to find some vacant sandy beaches.

She had to admit, it was beautiful here.

"I was not scared. Maybe a little startled," Casey protested, kicking off her sandals before joining him.

"Casey, you were so scared. I still have the bruises from your fingernails digging into my arm to prove it," he responded, throwing sand onto her lap.

"Jerk," she protested, trying to hide the smile forming on her lip as she quickly brushed it off herself.

"You know it was fun. I know you need to be reminded what that is every once in awhile," Derek laughed, laying back into the sand. Casey followed his example again, laying down with her hands folded behind her head for a pillow. The waves crashed around her ankles and the cold water sent a shiver through her spine.

"Where would I be without you?" Casey asked, her voice sounding less sarcastic than she had intended.

"Hey, I have to leave my mark before the university. Otherwise we might lose you to library forever," he joked and Casey had been surprised to find herself laughing.

"The Liberian will be so disappointed," she mused, pleased with herself when she heard Derek snicker.

She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, only that each time the waves crashed onto the beach they seemed to come up higher around them. Their jeans were soaking and she felt the bottom of her cotton shirt dampen.

She knew they should stand, there were dark colds rolling above the lake. They want to make it back to town before the storm came in.

But she didn't want to move first, the moment seemed too fragile to break.

It was the piercing sound of her cell phone that brought her back to reality. She reached up to her purse, which had dropped above her head.

"Hello," she answered, sitting up.

"Honey, its Mom. A bad storm is coming in, you need to get back to the ferry docks," her mother informed her.

"What about you guys? Are you going to be okay?" she asked, worried. She knew that they would only be halfway around the island at this point. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Derek propping himself up with his arms, his attention caught.

"We're fine, honey. We just got back into town. We noticed the clouds half an hour ago and decided to turn around. Where are you and Derek? The lines are starting to fill up," he mother inquired.

"We're about twenty minutes outside of town. Why don't you guys go ahead, we'll meet you back at the hotel," Casey suggested, standing up and motioning to Derek to follow.

"You sure you guys are going to be okay?" her mother asked, worried.

"We'll be fine. No need for all of us to get soaked," Casey laughed, before telling her mother that they would see her soon and not to worry anymore.

**xXx**

An hour and a half later, Derek and Casey finally boarded a ferry to take them to the mainland. They were both soaked to the bone, the first of the rain hitting them when they had only halfway back to town.

"You know, if we had been at the fort when my mother called we'd already be back at the hotel," Casey complained, her head pressed up against the wall of the packed ferry. Everyone had stuffed into the small cabin, ignoring the outside seats due to the storm.

"A little rain never hurt anyone," Derek protested, attempting to fan himself with Casey's water logged brochure as the temperature in the cabin rose. The ferry boat had just pulled away from the dock when Casey felt Derek grasp her hand and pull them from their seats.

Casey had been manhandling her all day and she was starting to get tired of it.

"Derek, what are you doing?" Casey demanded as they reached the door at the front of the cabin which lead to the outside deck.

"Do you really want to sweat to death in her? It's not like we aren't already wet," he asked, stepping out into the pouring rain and letting out a sigh of relief. Casey looked back; their seats had already been re-occupied.

"That a girl,' Derek laughed when Casey joined him in the rain, the heavy rain drops cooling her warm skin.

"I was already wet. But now I'm cold," she pouted, closing her eyes and tilting her head up towards the rain.

She could feel Derek moving next to her but before she could ask him what he was doing she felt him wrap his sweatshirt around her shoulders.

"Thanks," she offered, even though the material was heavy with water and clung to her skin. It had, however, offered some protection from the harsh wind.

"Nora would kill me if I let you freeze to death," he explained, tugging the hood up over her head before turning back to look towards the approaching land ahead.

Ten minutes later, as the boat docked and everyone rushed for the door the two were separated as the piled out on the road.

"Casey!" she heard Derek call out, his voice muffled by the voices and the first crack of thunder.

"Derek?" she responded, looking around desperately for him.

An old woman softly taped her shoulder and Casey turned to face her.

"Isn't that the boy you were with, over there?" she said, pointing towards Derek who was fighting his way through the crowd towards her.

"Yes, it is," Casey answered, thanking the woman with a warm smile.

"No problem, deary. You two make a precious couple, if you don't mind me saying so," the woman mused, leaving Casey speechless. By the time Derek reached her, the woman had already disappeared back into the crowd.

"You okay?" Derek asked, running a hand through his wet hair.

"I'm fine," Casey managed but Derek didn't seem to believe her, his eyes looking in the direction that the woman had disappeared before he gently took her arm and lead her back to their warmth and dryness of their hotel room.

**xXx**

_I'd like to thank everyone who gave me such lovely feedback. Definitely inspired me on getting this chapter done. Keep the reviews coming!_

_Chapter three should be up sometime tonight or tomorrow. It's actually finished but I want to re-work several scenes before posting it. So look forward to that :)_**  
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	3. Chapter 3

_Don't own Life with Derek, no matter how much I wish I did. Enjoy the chapter!_

**xXx**

Casey spent twenty minutes in the shower, hot water blasting her skin, before she felt the cold leave her body. After changing into a pair of pajama pants and a white, cotton tank top she exited the bathroom to find Derek and Marti sitting on the bed with a pile of junk food scattered in front of them and a Disney movie playing on the television.

The two had gone on a mission to the lobby earlier to scavenger for some supplies, which involved them raiding the candy machine with all the change they could find. The rest of their family had gone out to dinner earlier that night, after it became apparent how long Derek and Casey were going to be stranded on the island.

"This is so not healthy," Casey observed, picking up a recess peanut butter cup and popping into her mouth as she joined them.

"It's a vacation, you need to lighten up," Derek joked, bumping his shoulder into Casey. She immediately drew away from him, remember the old women mistaking them for a couple.

Casey had no idea where the woman had gotten that idea but it had put her on edge around Derek.

"You okay? You've been acting weird since we got back," Derek asked, mouthful of chocolate. "Well, weirder than usual."

"I'm fine, really. I'm just really tired. Let's get some sleep," she suggested, collecting up their snacks and placing them on the nearby table before turning off the light.

"Whatever you say," Derek mumbled, as Casey crawled into bed with them.

Casey had known that the sooner she fell asleep, the sooner morning would come and they would be on their way home. Back to normality where she and Derek would fight over the remote control and spend no more time together than required by their truce.

The God of irony, however, seemed to be working against her that night. The storm outside continued to pick up strength as it moved on shore and the thunder crack loudly every few minutes.

"I'm scared, Smerek," Marti cried, clinging to his arm.

"It's okay Smarti," Derek tried to reassure, as Casey watched them in the dark.

"I want my daddy," she demanded, tears starting to roll down her check.

"You want me to take you to Nora and Dad's room?" Derek asked, and Marti nodded violently. He picked her up and cradled her in his arm as he carried her out of the room. Casey pulled the blanket up to her chin; the bed seemed far too large now that she was alone.

It seemed like an eternity before she had heard the click of the hotel door as Derek let himself back. She felt her body relax and closed her eyes, faking the sleep she longed for. But instead of coming back to bed, Derek went to his bag and then headed out onto the small balcony of the room.

He left the door open, allowing the smell of the storm to fill the room followed by the soft scent of smoke. Casey sat up in bed and turned to see Derek smoking a cigarette as he leaned against the railing. Before she realized what she was doing, Casey had found herself standing next to him.

"I thought you quit," she observed, looking out at the bridge's bright lights shining through the storm as the lake raged below it.

"Says who?" Derek replied as she had felt him turn to face her as he exhaled a breath of smoke.

"That's what you told Emily," Casey explained.

"Yeah, well I told Emily a lot of things that weren't true," Derek smirked; bringing the cigarette back to his lips.

"You do realize that you're a pig," Casey had declared, turning to face him.

"Like you never lied to Sam," he challenged, leaning in towards her. "Tell me, how many times did you tell the boy you loved him after you stopped meaning it?"

Casey had felt her cheeks redden; appalled that Derek would sink as low to take a cheap shot like that. She had never really talked to Derek about her relationship with Sam. It had been one of those things that were off limits with them.

The last time she had confided in him about her relationship had been shortly after she had lost her virginity to Sam, an act she had immediately regretted it. Despite the length of their relationship, Casey knew that she and Sam had peaked sometime during their 11th year of school and since than had only been going through the motions. She had hoped the sex would re-ignite what it was they used to have.

It hadn't.

Derek had found her crying in the kitchen and she had let herself break down, confessing everything to him simply because he was the one there. She knew it was a mistake the moment she had looked up at him and seen the look in his eyes.

He had refused to speak to her for several days, locking himself away in his room. It was only after he began to date Emily a week later that things seemed to return to normal.

"Can I have a cigarette?" Casey asked, holding on her hand and waiting.

"Nice try but you don't smoke," he laughed, sliding the pack down the railing away from her.

"You don't know anything about me, Derek," Casey insisted, trying to reach for it.

"Please, Casey. I know _everything_ about you," he smirked, and Casey felt something flinch inside of her. She didn't like the idea of Derek knowing her. They were suppose to hate each other, that was the foundation of their entire relationship. The stupid truce had just screwed everything.

"You get good grades because you feel like it's the one thing in life you can really have complete control over. You like everything to stay the same because you find an unnatural amount of comfort in consistency. And most importantly, you stayed with Sam because he was safe," Derek informed her, throwing the stub of his cigarette away and lighting a new one as Casey stared at him in shock.

"It's not like I don't know you to," she finally responded, her voice not as strong as she had hoped it would be.

"Oh yeah?" he laughed and Casey nodded.

"You're scared to let anyone get close to you. It's why you jump from girl to girl because if you leave first than you eliminate the chance of getting hurt. You put up such a fight against my family when we first moved in because otherwise we might have broken through the thick walls you had spend years building up. And the only thing you will ever truly love is hockey because that can't break your heart," she snapped.

"You think?" Derek asked, but even in the moonlight she could tell that his eyes had grown cold.

"God, will you give me a damn cigarette," Casey snapped, trying to lunge past him towards the pack.

"Down girl," Derek laughed, throwing the cigarette over the balcony before grabbing her wrists.

She could feel them slipping back into the roles they used to own. The familiarity of this anger he could so easily provoke washed over her and she was almost scared at how much she had missed this.

Casey lost it then, violently trying to rip her hands from his grasp. With one smooth moment, he pulled her body towards him and rotated her until her back was pressed up against the glass of the sliding door with her hands pinned over his head.

"Now Casey, play nice," he smirked.

"I hate you," she growled, trying to pull herself away.

"Not as much as I hate you," he responded, pressing his body up against hers to prevent any attempt of escape.

Casey's body trembled as lightning had illuminated their faces, which were only inches apart, and she saw the wild look in Derek's eyes. She realized how labored their breathing had become and pushed him away, trying to retreat to the inside of their hotel room.

She had been wrong to want the fighting back, no good came from it. All she wanted was to go to sleep and forget this had ever happened in the morning. She was halfway to the bed when she felt his arms wrap around her waste, pulling her back into him. She let out a soft pant her back collided with his chest.

"Do _not_ walk away from me," he hissed into her ear, his breathe hot on her neck. He had smelled like the rain and cheap cigarettes. It had been entirely to intoxicating.

"You can't always get what you want," she replied but she had made no attempt to escape his grasp. He spun her around, his fingers digging into her arms as he held her in front of him and stared into her eyes.

"Do not tempt me, Casey," he demanded his voice deep and heavy.

"Poor baby," she pouted. Before she could say anything else she had felt Derek pushing her back and had fallen roughly onto the bed. "Derek, what the fuck are you doing" she demanded, sitting up as Derek stepped towards her.

But then Derek was pressing his lips against her, pushing her back down onto the mattress. She was frozen, unable to react as Derek blanketed her body with his. All she could think, as his lips had worked against hers, was how horribly wrong this had to be.

Finally, her body had seemed to come back to life as she let out a gasp of pleasure as Derek's hand slipped underneath her tank top and his thumb stroked her nipple. He took the opportunity to slip his tongue past her lips into her mouth, deepening the kiss.

After that, Casey had stopped caring about anything but his touch.

She had felt herself arch up into him then, her arms wrapping around his neck and her lips finally responding to his. Her hands slipped underneath his shirt, grasping the hem and pulling it up over his head. His lips returned to her body, leaving a trail down her neck that had left her panting for more.

Her nails had dug into his back as she felt him thrust down into her, only a few thing layers of fabric separating her from his throbbing heat.

"Leaving your mark?" he whispered into her ear, before tracing it with his tongue. "I don't think Dad and Nora are going to believe those came from the haunted mansion."

"Then you'll just have to keep your shirt on," Casey laughed, as she had dug her nails even deeper into his skin and pulled them slowly down his back. She felt him shiver in pleasure, which had caused a smile to spread across her face.

"Let's see how you like it," he breathed, returning his attention to her collarbone. She had known it would leave a hickey but his lips teasing her skin had felt too good for her to push him away. She had moaned loudly as she felt his hand slide across her stomach, tracing the line of her pajama pants.

His fingers had just begun to slip under the elastic waistband when they had heard a loud knocking at their hotel room door. Derek had quickly lunged off the bed and Casey had slipped as far under the covers as she possibly could. They didn't look away from each other nor did either of them make a move for the door.

The moment had seemed frozen in time.

"Derek? Casey?" They had heard George's voice echo through the door. "Marti left her stuff animal in there. She won't go to sleep without it."

Casey had turned her head and saw a purple hippo on the pillow next to hers. Derek had silently grabbed in, ran a hand through his ruffled hair and finally answered the door.

After George had left, Casey watched Derek enter the bathroom and listened to him turn on the shower. She pretended to be sleeping when he finally exited but she had heard him cross the room and return to the balcony.

She hadn't followed him that time.

Casey was never sure how long he stayed out there, she had finally fallen into a restless sleep before than. When she had woken up the next morning, he had been lying on top of the covers with his back to her.

All she knew was that the pack of cigarettes, which had appeared to be new the night before, lay empty on the balcony floor.

Neither one had mentioned what had happened the night before as they had quickly dressed and rejoined the rest of their family for the trip home.

Another unspoken clause had been added to their truce, which had seemed more important at the time to Casey than ever before.

**xXx**

_Decided that you guys deserved some action between the two. Keep the reviews coming, you know that I love them. Hopefully I can get part four up either tomorrow or monday night._**  
**


	4. Chapter 4

_Don't own Life with Derek. I'm totally just a poor college student._

**xXx**

After Michigan, Casey had avoided Derek as much as possible. She spent most of her time was with Emily, shopping for their future dorm room or finding excuses to visit her next door.

It was easier not to think about what had happened that night between her and Derek when he wasn't around.

Not that Derek had spent anymore time in their home than she had. He had always off with Sam playing video games or hockey.

Or video games about hockey.

Their system had minimized their interaction but they hadn't been able to completely isolate themselves from each other.

Nora and George had become more insistent on the family spending time together, which had resulted in mandatory family dinners five nights a week and a family event every weekend.

The dinners had been easy enough. Casey would focus on the younger siblings or chat with her mother about how she was going to decorate her new room, all the while ignoring Derek who sat across from her at the table.

Not that he had objected.

However, Casey couldn't have said the same about the family events. Besides forcing Casey to interact with Derek, they also had a high frequency of involving physical activity.

And that had come along with the risk of physical contact with Derek, which sent chills down Casey's spine and left her longing for something that she was desperately trying not to want.

She had blamed her newly founded smoking habit on these days.

**xXx**

Casey had bought her first pack of cigarettes on the drive home from Michigan.

They had stop at a gas station so George could fill the tank and Casey had quickly run into the store to buy something to drink. She had been paying at the counter when she noticed Derek's brand of cigarettes behind the counter.

"I'll take a pack of those," she had said without thinking, pointing towards them.

"ID, please," the girl behind the counter asked, only giving it a passing glance as Casey's shaking hand had held up her license. As the casher retrieved the pack Casey added a pink lighter to her order, self consciously looking over her shoulder to the family's car.

Casey had just finished paying and had been slipping the pack into her purse when she heard Lizzie enter the store behind her.

"Mom wants to know what's taking so long," she asked, joining her sister at the counter.

"Couldn't decide on what I wanted to drink," Casey quickly lied, feeling guilty as she clutched her purse to her chest. She thought Lizzie would see through this but she hadn't.

Once they had arrived home several hours later, Casey had hidden the pack in the bottom of her sock drawer and tried to forget about it. It took her several weeks until she had finally retrieved them in the middle of the night and slipped outside to the front steps.

She had coughed loudly the first time she inhaled, the smoke burning her throat and lungs. But they smelled like Derek had that night and it had given her a strange comfort.

Since then she had gone through several packs, all of which were carefully hidden away in her room as dysfunctional keepsakes.

No one had found out yet, not even Emily.

It had become a private ritual for her, a way to calm her longing after the more difficult days with Derek.

Casey had always smoked the most after family events.

**xXx**

It was a month before Casey and Derek moved out of the house that he had caught her.

She had slipped down to the front steps of their house as she always did to think about what happened that afternoon.

As she lit her cigarette she remembered how they had played soccer earlier in the front yard. It had been her mother, Edwin, Derek and Marti against Lizzie, George and her. The game had become increasingly competitive as it had gone on, thanks mostly to her and Derek, and had come down to one final winning point.

Casey had been about to intercept Edwin from making the winning goal when she felt Derek's arm wrap around her waist and pull her backwards as they fell onto the grass.

She could vividly remember the heat of his breathe on her neck and the way he had seemed to hold on just a little longer than necessary before releasing her.

"That was totally cheating," she had declared, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Face it, princess. We won," Derek laughed, before running over to congratulate Edwin on the goal.

God, she hated him.

Except for the whole part were she didn't.

Casey jumped as she heard the door shut behind her, breaking the silence of the night around her.

"I guess I was wrong about you smoking," Derek mused, joining her on the steps.

"What do you want?" Casey asked, her voice coming out sharper than she had meant it to.

"A cigarette," he replied, smirking at her.

"No," she refused, turning her attention back to the tree in their front yard.

It was a very big tree.

"What?" Derek asked.

"I said no. I know you're used to getting whatever it is you want, Derek but you'll just have to learn someday that's not how things work," Casey explained, exhaling smoking. "Besides, I recall you refusing to share yours."

"And we all remember how that turned out," he had replied, his voice deepening and Casey had felt his hot breathe on her cheek as he leaned in.

That had been the closest either of them had coming to talking about it. Casey shivered, her fingers closing around the box before slipping them into his hand.

"You can have one," she agreed, her skin tingling where his fingers brushed hers as he took it.

"You're smoking my brand," he noticed, placing a cigarette between his lips.

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Casey lied, her heart skipping a beat as Derek leaned over her to grab the lighter on her other side if the steps.

"I'm sure," he smirked, his face dangerous close to hers and his cigarette bobbing up and down between his lips as they moved.

His knee brushed up against hers as they sat on the steps in silence after that.

Her skin had quivered at the contact but neither of them had pulled away from it.

"I miss you," Casey admitted, to both Derek and herself, the words flowing form her mouth before she could try and stop them.

"You do remember that we spent the day together, right?" Derek joked.

"That's not what I'm talking about and you know it," Casey insisted. She had been carefully rolling the filter of her cigarette between her fingers, working patiently until all the ash had fallen off before sliding the stub back into the pack as she said this.

She wasn't exactly sure what she missed, whether it was the fighting, the handful of times they had worked together or the seldom occasions were they had actually gotten along.

But she knew she missed something about being around him.

"Yeah, I know," Derek finally answered his voice softening as he threw the stub of his cigarette out into the front of the yard.

She had looked over at him then, catching his eyes for the first time since he had joined her on the patio. After their eyes had locked, Casey didn't think she would ever be able to look away.

She wasn't sure who leaned in first, only that his shoulder had been pressing up against hers as their lips became dangerously close and his breathe hot on her face.

Casey had snapped back to reality when their lips had only been inches apart and ran quickly into the house without a word.

She didn't realize that she had left her pack of cigarettes on the front steps until she had already crawled into her bed, the smell of smoke still clinging to her hair but her pride prevented her from retrieving them.

She hadn't heard Derek return to his room yet and she wasn't about to face him again.

When she woke up the next morning she had found them carefully slipped under her pillow. With a cry of frustration she had thrown them into the trash in the corner of her room before going down for breakfast.

She had retrieved them, however, several hours later and carefully cleaned off the pack before putting them back to their place in her sock drawer.

Whatever it was that was going on between the two of them, Casey knew that it was wrong and she couldn't let it happen again.

But she found herself unable to completely let go of it, it just felt to right to her.

**xXx**

_I'd like to apology for how long this chapter took to get out. I know I promised it like two days ago. It took alot longer to write than I had expected cause I had to work out some plot points._

_Anyways, I love all the reviews cause they make me happy. It's nice to know that people are into my fic. Keep them coming, they really are great encouragement for me to get off my ass and write part 5 of this baby._


	5. Chapter 5

_Still don't own Life with Derek. Enjoy!_

When the end of summer finally arrived it had been bitter sweet for Casey.

It had meant she would finally be able to get away from her current situation with Derek. They were both attending the same university but thankfully they had been placed in separate dorms on opposite ends of the campus. She had known that once she moved in she wouldn't have to see Derek again until to Christmas vacation.

She had figured several months apart would help her get over whatever had been going on between her and Derek.

But at the same time, the idea of being away from Derek for that long caused Casey's chest to tighten up and had left her feeling hollow. She had tried her best to ignore the sensation but had eventually had accepted the fact that she was going to miss him.

That had been what kept her from sleeping her last night at home.

After tossing and turning in her bed for several hours she had given up hope on getting any sleep and had quietly made her way downstairs at one in the morning.

She had just gotten comfort on the old couch and begun flipping through the stations trying to find something decent to watch in the middle of the night when she heard loud footsteps thunder down the stairs.

Well, she had thought, that can only be one person.

She had heard Derek freeze when he reached the landing, noticing her a few feet away. She hadn't looked over at him; instead she waited silently for him to leave. Since the last incident they had gone out of their way to ensure that they were never alone together. It was another clause that had been added to their ever growing, completely complicated and frustrating annoying truce.

"What are you doing up?" Derek inquired.

"I'm watching television," Casey had replied with her eyes still locked on the television.

"You're watching the Brady Bunch?" Derek questioned, crossing the room and throwing himself down into his chair.

"That was very observant, Derek," Casey joked as she finally looked over at him.

"That's why I'm going to the good university," Derek answered as he tried to grab the remote out of her hand. Casey had pulled it out of his reach just in time.

"And here I thought it was because of your amazing ability to hit a puck with a stick," Casey replied.

"You know that was kind of a complement, don't you?" he laughed.

"Oh shit," Casey realized. "Be assured it wasn't intended."

"Seriously, why are we watching this? It's like the most unrealistic show ever created," Derek asked, leaning over towards her.

"Just because we're dysfunctional, Derek doesn't mean that every family is. I think it's nice," Casey answered.

"You would prefer that opposed to what we have," Derek asked as he motioned towards the television, where the Brady's were enjoying a family breakfast.

"What's wrong with not wanting to fight all the time?" Casey snapped.

"Because if we all got along our lives would be boring and dull. I happen to like the fact that you're one of the only girls who is actually willing to challenge me," Derek went on, moving closer to her. Casey had realized she was leaning over the arm of the sofa towards him, the space between their lips quickly disappearing.

"You know that was kind of a complement, don't you?" she mimicked his earlier comment. She closed her eyes, waiting for his lips to touch hers when she felt the remote being pulled out of her hand. "You jerk! I was here first!"

"Hey, this was my house first. Therefore, I get the remote for our last night in it," Derek smirked, leaning back in his chair and changing the channel. Casey lunged over the arm of the couch, reaching towards his hand. Her fingers wrapped around his wrist just as he went to pull it out of her reach, causing her body to be pulled almost completely on top of him. After a few minutes of struggling, Casey was able to retrieve the remote and push herself into the standing position.

"I win," she laughed, victoriously holding the remote up.

"Yeah right," Derek declared, jumping off his chair towards her. Casey tried to back away but only managed to trip on the end table, knocking herself back onto the sofa. She had pulled Derek, who she had instinctually reached out for to try and regain her balance, down with her. He had landed on top of her, knocking the breathe out of both of them. They recovered quickly as Derek pushed himself up onto his knees as he tried to reach for the remote that Casey had been holding at arms length above her.

It wasn't until he had pinned her arms to the sofa above her that they had both realized the position they were in. Casey let the remote slide from her grip but Derek had made no attempt to retrieve it.

All Casey could think of was how fucking close he was. If he had lowered himself just a few inches he would be blanketing her. The thought made her body arch up, minimizing the space between them even more.

"Casey," he whispered his voice thick and heavy.

"We can't do this again," she pleaded, despite everything in body screaming that this was _exactly_ what it wanted to do.

"I know," he murmured, his head lower to her neck where he nuzzled her softly causing Casey to let out an involuntary moan.

"We just need to make it tomorrow. Then we won't see each other for weeks and we can get over this," she encouraged as her hand begin to slowly stroke his back. "We really need to get over this."

"Mmm hmm," he mumbled as his lips brushed against her collarbone. The sensation had caused Casey's body to arch up into his, finally closing the space between them as he let his body collapse onto hers.

They fit together perfectly.

The action, however, had knocked the remote to the floor and caused the volume the television to shoot up. Afraid it would wake the rest of the family; Casey had pushed Derek off of her before grabbing the remote and turning the television off.

"I have to go….away," she said, her heart still pounding loudly in her ears. She rose off the couch and had been heading towards the stairs when she heard Derek stand behind her.

"You really want to end this?" he had asked, causing Casey to stop.

"We don't really have a choice, do we?" Casey replied, lowering her head. "We can't do this anymore."

"Fuck it," she heard him declare as he wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her around to him.

"Derek, what are…" she started but her words were cut off as his lips crashed into hers and his arms wrapped around her waist. When he had finally pulled away, Casey's head felt like it was spinning.

"I can quit you tomorrow," he moaned, recapturing her lips. Casey had felt herself smile into their kiss, opening her mouth to his as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

Derek had carefully lowered himself into a sitting position on the sofa, causing Casey to straddle him in order not to break their contact. His hand had moved away from her waist, slipping under her tank top to capture her breasts. She tilted her head back as she let out a gasp of pleasure, which had left her neck open and vulnerable to Derek's hot tongue.

She had felt his hardness pressing up against her and her entire body had been shaking as she felt his moan her name as she captured his earlobe between her teeth.

She had never wanted that night to end.

**xXx**

It had been the sunlight shining through the front window that had awoken Casey at dawn the next morning. She had still been wrapped up in Derek's arms with her lips pleasantly bruised.

She had risen quietly, trying not to wake him. He had looked to peaceful.

"One for the road," she whispered, leaning down to press a chaste kiss on his lips before returning to her room and crawling into bed.

She had barely fallen back asleep when her mother had gently shaken her, telling her it was time to get up and that breakfast was waiting for her in the kitchen.

They had left soon after that. George drove as her mother navigated while she had sat in the backseat with Derek. Fifteen minutes into the drive Derek had moved his hand so it was resting on Casey's thigh.

He hadn't pulled it away until they had arrived at her dorm.

**xXx**

Half an hour later, Casey found herself hugging her mother goodbye as Derek and George brought the last of her bags to her new room.

"You sure you don't want us to stay and help you put everything put away," her mother asked again, brushing a stray hair behind Casey's ear.

"Mom, its fine. I have to wait for Emily to show up so we can figure it out together," Casey had assured her and watched as her family finally left her room. Derek didn't say anything, just gave her a secret smile before closing the door behind them.

Casey fell back onto her new bed and closed her eyes.

A few minutes later she heard a knock on the door and sat up, wondering who it could be. Emily hadn't planned on arriving for another hour.

"I forgot my ipod," she heard Derek yell through the door. Casey stood up, looking around at the boxes to see where he might have put it.

"Derek, I don't see it," she said, as she opened the door to him. He pushed himself quickly into her room, pulling her to him and capturing her lips in a kiss.

It was gentler than the ones from the night before and had left her breathless.

"One for the road," he whispered, his forehead pressed against her.

It wasn't until after he slipped out of the room that Casey realized he had been awake that morning when she kissed him goodbye.

She was still smiling when Emily and her family finally arrived.

**xXx**

_So sorry that it took this long to get the next part out. I couldn't get certain parts of this chapter to work out right in my mind. I'm pleasantly surprised by how it turned out though._

_ And I'm really loving all the reviews that I'm getting from you guys. You really make me want to write more! Special shout outs to Courtney and Kat for their encouragement to get off my ass and write this part. _

_ Hopefully part 6 will be up later this weekend. Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!  
_


	6. Chapter 6

_Don't own life with Derek. Enjoy the chapter, it turned out longer than normal so consider an extra treat from me. :)_

Casey had quickly learned that classes at the university weren't much different than the ones she had attended in high school. She color coded her notes, high lighted the important passages in her text books and wrote out detailed study schedules to help her stay ahead of the lectures.

Forgetting about Derek, however, was more difficult than she anticipated. As much as Casey had tried to organize her life and focus on her schoolwork, Derek dominated much of her thoughts.

It had been so much easier for her to move on from Sam.

She had had several study dates with Marcus, a boy she had met in her intro chemistry class. They would meet in the library twice a week to go over their notes and make flashcards. He had become her distraction, a pretty face that would make her laugh and forget about Derek for several hours.

But those had ended by October, after one night when Marcus had tried to kiss Casey goodnight.

He had walked her back to her dorm room, his coat wrapped around her shoulders to keep her warm from the chilly fall breeze. She had been about to return it to him when she saw him lean in towards her. She instinctually pulled away, looking at the ground as she pressed her back up against her door.

"Casey?" he asked, his voice thick with concern.

"I'm sorry, Marcus. I really wanted to like you," she had explained, brushing a stray hair behind her ear. "You're a great guy who's funny and sweet and really cute. But..."

"But what?" he had asked, staring at her with a confused look as he took his jacket back from her.

"You smell too good, like cologne and shampoo. You agree with everything I say and you like the fact that I'm control freak. You're safe and kinda dull. And some girls really like that but…I'm sorry. You're just not _him_," she answered, before she had left him confused in front of her dorm room.

He had sat on the opposite side of the lecture hall after that and hadn't shown up for any future study dates.

Not that Casey had wanted him to.

**xXx**

"Come on, Casey! We've been in school for over a month! It's time you have some fun," Emily had pleaded the second weekend of October.

"I have fun all the time. In fact, I was having fun before you interrupted me," Casey had moaned, turning her attention back to her laptop.

"Casey, this is homework," Emily explained, holding up the notebook Casey had been studying from. "And it's a Friday night."

"So?" Casey asked, grabbing it out of Emily's hand and placing it back on her desk.

"Do you have a huge exam on Monday?" she asked, kneeling down next to Casey.

"No, I was just combining my lecture notes with the ones I took on my laptop when I read the chapter last night," Casey had explained.

"Casey, you need a life," Emily explained as she had hit the power button on Casey's laptop. "Just because things didn't work out with Marcus doesn't mean you should give up hope on meeting another cute boy on campus."

"Hey! I hadn't saved that!" she cried out.

"Some of Tony's friends are having a party off campus tonight and he invited us to come. Which we will be," Emily explained, pulling Casey to her feet and leading them to their small closet.

"Speaking of Tony, how are things going between you to?" Casey asked, accepting the fact that there was no way she was going to get out of this party.

"Does this mean you're going?" Emily asked, thrusting a black and white dress into Casey's hand. "This would look great on you!"

"I'll make an appearance but I'm not staying late," Casey explained.

"You'll thank me for this later," Emily responded, picking out her own outfit. The two girls had quickly changed and headed towards the hall's shared bathroom to apply their make up and style their hair.

"You never answered me about Tony," Casey said, running a hair brush through her long brown hair. "You two officially dating yet?"

"Things are going great. I mean, you've seen how hot the boy is!" Emily laughed. "Can I borrow your lipstick?"

"Sure," Casey had agreed, handing it to her. "So it's serious?"

"We're taking it slow. I mean, I really like him but he's not Derek. You know," Emily continued on.

"Yeah, I do," Casey answered, quietly to herself, looking away from my Emily's reflection.

"Huh?" she asked, turning to face Casey.

"I mean, with Marcus I kept comparing him to Sam," Casey lied. She had never mentioned anything about what had happened between her and Derek to Emily. It had been almost a year since they had broken up but Casey knew Emily wasn't completely over it yet.

"Right. Anyways, it's probably a good thing he's so different from Derek. At least he won't leave me with some lame ass excuse about how the only reason he dated me was to get over someone else," Emily confessed as she had put on the finishing touches of her make up.

"What?" Casey asked, shocked. Emily had never disclosed the reason behind her and Derek's breakup.

"I never told you?" Emily asked, collecting up their stuff.

"No!"

"Well, that's what Derek told me when he dumped me. Come on, it was obviously a lie because everyone knows I was the only girl who ever dated the boy. And no girl in school would have turned him down," Emily continued on. "I think he was just freaked out because we had finally slept together. Things got weird after we lost our virginity."

"Derek was a virgin?" Casey gasped, stopping in the middle of the hallway.

"Yeah," Emily replied slowly. "I mean, he definitely made out with more girls than we can ever count but he wasn't a slut. At least that's what he told me, who knows if it was actually true. Can we not talk about this, please?"

"Okay," Casey replied, following Emily into their room to drop of their beauty supplies and grab their purses.

"Come on, we're gonna be late!" Emily declared, dragging Casey down the stairs and out in front of their dorm room. "Tonight is going to be awesome!"

**xXx**

Casey's first college party reminded her a lot of the one Derek had thrown the first and only time their parents had left them alone for the weekend.

Only this one featured the addition of vast quantities of alcohol and far less clothing.

Casey had been ready to leave after fifteen minutes but had lost Emily in the crowd when she had ventured to the kitchen to find something non-alcoholic to drink. After several minutes of searching she had found a can of Pepsi in the back of the fridge behind two dozen beer cans.

"Casey! I've been looking everywhere for you!" she had Emily yell out for her half an hour later, as she had been sitting alone on the sofa as the party raged around her.

"Can we go now?" Casey quickly asked, jumping to her feet to meet her friend.

"Aren't you having fun?" Emily asked, her voice slurred.

"Does it look like I'm having fun?" Casey shot back, crossing her arms and staring pleadingly at her friend.

"Then you have not had enough alcohol," Emily giggled. "Anyways, you need to stay here."

"Why?"

"Because Tony's roommate's cousin is staying with them in their apartment! So we can't have sex there!" Emily had slurred loudly, catching the attention of several people around them. Casey grabbed Emily's sleeve and dragged her away from the crowd.

"You want me out of the room so you can have sex?" Casey asked, shocked.

"Yes," Emily pleaded, clinging to Casey. "Just for a few hours. Pleeeeease."

"You realize you so owe me for this!" Casey finally relented and a squealing Emily threw her arms around her in a tight hug.

"You are the best friend _ever!_" she yelled, before turning to find Tony.

"You have to two am! No later!" Casey screamed after her. Throwing her empty can into the garbage, she had turned to head towards the kitchen for water. She was halfway across the room when she felt a hand wrap around her wrist.

Well, fuck. Casey had definitely not been in the mood to get hit on at the moment.

"Do you mind?" she asked, trying to pull her wrist away and continue on to the kitchen.

"What? I don't even get a hug?" she heard him ask, pulling her back. She spun around at the voice, her mouth falling open.

"Derek?"

**xXx**

"Emily kicked you out of your own dorm room for sex?" Derek laughed as Casey had followed him out onto the empty patio.

"I totally blame your bad influence on her for that," Casey joked, watching Derek as he retrieved his pack of cigarettes from his back pocket and pulled out two, offering her one. She slipped it between her lips and Derek had went to light it for her.

"A beautiful woman never lights her own cigarette," he deadpanned, lighting hers.

"Please tell me you don't actually use that one," Casey laughed, exhaling the smoke. "And if you do, tell me no girl actually falls for it."

"I haven't gotten that desperate yet," he assured her, leaning against the railing. "So how's school treating you? You have the layout of the library memorized yet?"

"By the end of the first week. What about you, have you actually attended any of your classes?" Casey asked.

"I've made a few cameos," Derek explained and Casey had felt a smile spread across her face.

"How's hockey treating you? Still spending all your time on the ice?" Casey inquired, moving towards him.

"You know it. That's why I'm here," he said, motioning towards a large group of guys within the party. "That's the team."

"You mean Derek Venturi was dragged to a party? I think the temperature in Hell just dropped a few degrees," Casey joked, throwing the stub of her cigarette over the railing.

"If I had known you'd be here, they wouldn't have had to," he replied, brushing up against her. Her entire body had begun to tingle. "How about we go back to my place."

"What?" Casey asked, shocked.

"Get your mind out of the gutter, McDonald. You can't go back to your room for a couple of hours and this party sucks. We can go rent some movies at that 24/7 video place by campus and watch them in my dorm," Derek explained, heading towards the door.

"Well, it would be better than this," Casey agreed, following him. "But only by a little."

They were pushing their way through the crowd when Casey had heard someone yell out Derek's name.

"Venturi! You're leaving already!" a large guy asked, heading towards them, followed the group of guys Derek had pointed out earlier, as they had reached the door.

"Um, yeah," Derek said, hand on the doorknob. "I'll see you guys at practice tomorrow."

"Who's this?" another guy in the group asked, motioning towards her as she had stepped closer to Derek.

"I'm Casey," she introduced herself, smiling at them. At that moment a look crossed their faces, as if they had just realized something.

"Have fun, Derek," the first guy responded, raising an eyebrow and smirking. Casey realized what exactly they thought was going on and had been about to inform them she was Derek's step-sister when she felt him slip his arm around her waist and pull her closer to him.

"Don't worry, we will," Derek had laughed as he led the two of them out the door. Once they were in the empty hallway, Casey pulled away from him and stared in shock.

"They think you picked me up for the night," Casey declared.

"That's the point, Casey," Derek whispered, stepping closer to her. Casey pressed herself against the wall, feeling the vibration of the loud music through the plaster. "You're just a cute girl I met at a party."

"You always know just what to say," Casey had sarcastically replied but she felt her body quiver as he pressed up against hers.

"They think you're just a cute girl," Derek repeated, his lips inches away from hers. "Not my step-sisters."

Before Casey could reply his lips were crushing against her and God, she had missed this feeling. She had wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled into his kiss.

"God, get a room," a girl remarked, as she passed them in the hallway. Casey had felt her face turn red as Derek pulled away but he just smiled at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Come on," he said, pressing a chaste kiss on her lips before slipping his hand into hers and leading her out the building.

Derek had, for once in his life, actually been right. They were miles away from home in the midst of a huge university. They could be whoever they wanted here with little chance of getting caught if they were careful.

"I get to pick the movie," Casey informed him, as they reached his SUV in the parking lot.

"Says who?" Derek asked.

"Me," she had answered sweetly, before pulling him down into a kiss. Her tongue traced his lips and her fingers ran through his hair.

"Oh really?" he mumbled against her lips, pressing her body up against his car.

"Yep," she responded with a light gasp, his tongue leaving a hot trail down her neck.

"Nothing girly," he caved, finally pulling away from her and opening the passenger door for her.

"I promise nothing," Casey joked as Derek climbed into the driver's seat.

As they had pulled out of the parking lot with the radio playing softly, Casey tilted her head back and stared over at Derek. Nothing had felt that right for her in a long time.

**xXx**

_So I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I was originally torn between posting this as one or two chapters. I finally caved and decided to give you all one really big chapter instead of two small ones. Especially since I start school tomorrow and I'm not sure how that's going to effect my update schedule._

_Oh, and shout out to CASEYandDEREK, lisa1022, n1c0le and everyone else that has been given me such consitant great reviews! I love them all and they definitely make my day._

_Hopefully, part seven will be up on tuesday. _


	7. Chapter 7

_Don't own anything and I'm not getting any money from it either. So enjoy and don't sue!_

Casey had always thought of herself as logical girl.

Ever since she could remember she had organized her life down to the smallest detail. Every decision she had ever made growing up had been the result of list making, comparison between pros and cons and more thought than what was probably healthy.

This way of living had started to dwindle once Derek had entered her life but it wasn't until she found herself standing in a video rental store at one am with Derek's arms wrapped around her waist and her back resting against his chest that she realized how much of her previous system she had abandoned.

It was completely illogical, irrational and utterly perfect.

"Will you just pick a movie?" Derek had complained, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Excuse me for trying to pick something that's actually decent," Casey joked, picking up a movie case and flipping it over to read the back. Apparently this movie would sweep her off her feet with its coming-of-age love story. She'd passed. Her feet already seemed to have lost contact with the earth. Anymore and she may have been lost to the edges of the universe forever.

"You don't actually think we're going to watch the movie, do you?" Derek whispered into her ear before he had traced her lobe with his tongue. She shivered at his touch.

"I certainly do," Casey replied, trying to focus on the movie titles. "What do you say, romantic comedy or gross out comedy? I'm partial to the first."

"Casey," he moaned, tightening his grip around her.

"Or a good horror movie. Who doesn't like to be scared?" Casey asked smiling, knowing full well that she was driving Derek crazy. At that he had spun her around so she was facing him. "Well? What do you want?"

The words had barely left her lips when he captured them in a kiss. She wrapped her arms around his next and traced small designs with her fingertips on the back of his neck.

Casey definitely loved the kissing.

Giving up the logical had definitely been worth it for this.

It was the elderly lady behind the counter coughing loudly that had finally caused Casey to pull away from Derek. The woman glared at them and Casey felt herself blush and hide her face against Derek's chest.

"I guess she's not a fan of PDA" Derek joked, slipping his hand around her wrist and pulling her towards the back of the empty store. "Come on."

"Derek, we still need to pick out a movie," Casey told him, anxious to return to his dorm room.

"There are movies back here," he had answered, with a sparkle in his eye. She had known Derek long enough to realize that no good came from that. He pulled her through a wooden door to a small room separate from the rest of the store. "See?"

It took Casey several seconds to realize they were in the adult section.

"We are not renting a porno," she informed him, pulling her wrist away and stepping towards the wall to examine the DVD covers. "Oh my God! It can not be healthy for your back when your boobs are larger than you head!"

"I like yours better," Derek whispered, stepping up behind and gently pushing the strap of her dress off her shoulder. Casey had let out a small gasp as his lips connected with her bare flesh and his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, pulling her body back into his.

"Derek," she responded, her voice had come out more as a whimper and less commanding than she had originally intended. She had felt herself give into at that moment, tilting her head back and reaching up behind her head to run her fingers through his hair. He didn't answer her; instead he slipped his hand lower until it was running of her the top of her thigh with only the thin fabric of the dress separating them.

"Still want to watch that movie?" he asked, his fingers reaching the bottom of her dress and his fingers tracing the flesh along the edge.

"I was thinking we should go with the romantic comedy," she responded, biting her lip as his fingers slipped underneath the dress and rubbed the inside of leg.

"You sure?" he asked again, his fingers moving up until they reached the cotton of her underwear. They stilled there, so close that Casey had let out an involuntary moan when they had stopped. "Isn't this better?"

"Yes," she whimpered, letting a moan as his fingers ran over her center.

"Good girl," he whispered into her ear, his other hand cupping her breast with his thumb brushing over her nipple. The comment brought Casey back to reality and she realized how easily he had had just manipulate her.

She smiled as she devised a plan that would allow her to even the playing ground.

As his hands were still busy working their will on her, she slides her hand silently behind her until it reached its destination, between Derek's legs. They found his hardness and she smirked when she felt Derek respond with a small thrust into her palm. He gasped, loudly, and both of his hands stilled as she continued to massage him through his jeans.

"But watching a movie would be a nice way to end the night, don't you agree?" she inquired, pulling away from his grasp as she turned to face him. She smiled innocently as she moved her hand up to button of his jeans. She licked her lips and stepped closer before she continued by tucking at the button and slowly pulled down the zipper.

"Are you going to answer?" she mused, going no further until he responded to her.

"Anything you want," he moaned, grabbing her wrist and slipping it down into her pants as Casey smiled at her victory.

However, she quickly stopped caring about what movie to rent as Derek's lips crashed down onto hers and she was backed up roughly into the shelves that lined the wall and his hand returned to its spot between her legs.

"Fuck," she moaned, as his fingers pushed aside the cotton and stroked her flesh. She responded by increasing the pressure of her palm and Derek bite down her lip.

She bucked against him when his fingers slipped inside of her, her arms flying out to the side as she tried to support herself, resulting in a number of the DVDs being knocked to the floor in a loud clatter.

Casey had just tilted her head back, allowing Derek's lips better access to her neck when she heard the door they entered through being opened. She pushed Derek away, growing cold at the loss of his touch.

"What the hell is going on back here?" The woman demanded, staring at their flushed faces as they both panted for air.

"I tripped," Casey lied, kneeling down to pick up the scattered DVDs.

"Yeah, she's a real Klutizilla," Derek agreed, making no move to help her pick up the DVDs.

"Just leave those! You won't put that back right!" The woman demanded and Casey let them fall back to the floor. "What were you two doing back here anyways?"

"I was curious," Casey lied again, grabbing Derek's hand and pulling him towards the door. "Come on, we still need to pick out a movie."

"I thought…" Derek started once they were several feet away.

"You agreed," Casey laughed, grabbing a copy of **Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest** off the shelf. "We're watching this."

"You're a tease," he replied, caving to her as they walked towards the front counter. "You're lucky you're cute."

Casey stuck her tongue out at him as she placed the rental on the counter and waited for the woman to return. Obviously she had been in no hurry, not that Casey blamed her. Derek threw a box of microwave popcorn down next to it, causing Casey to raise an eyebrow in question at him.

"Come on, you can't watch a movie without popcorn!" he argued and Casey laughed.

Several minutes later they exited the movie rental store and climbed back into Derek's SUV. They had only gone two blocks when Derek had to stop for a red light as Casey had played with the radio dial trying to find something good to listen to.

She had given up hope and was about to turn it off when she felt Derek slip his hand around her neck and pulled her into a kiss. He finally pulled away from her when the car behind them honked loudly to let them know the light had turned green.

"We'll finish this later," he whispered, before turning onto the road that would lead them to his dorm.

"You can count on that," she responded, finally finding a good song on the radio and leaning back in her seat with her bare feet resting on the dash and her eyes closed to listen to it.

She never noticed that Derek almost ran off the road when he had looked over and seen her like that.

_I'd like to apologize for the fact that it took this long to get the chapter posted. I know that I promised it would be up on Tuesday. Monday was my first day back in classes and it was rougher than I was expecting (I have 7 hours of class, including a 3 hour night course and 2 hours of calculus). Works been crazy to and last night when I wrote this was the first free time I've had since last weekend!_

_But I wanted to let you know that your reviews definitely made my week so much better! I got 25 for this chapter! That's the most so far. You guys should totally try and beat that for this chapterhint hint Shoutouts this week go to **leogal063, wantingchino, CASEYandDEREK** and **Ms.Amazing**_

_Finally, if you guys want to keep up an update on how the fic is progressing you can friend my livejournal killerspork33. cause when I'm not fangirling I tend to keep the flist up to date on the progression of the next part. Plus I love friends!  
_

_ If part eight isn't up tomorrow night it won't be up until monday afternoon (seeing how the site is going down on sunday night to switch servers or something) and I don't want to mess around with trying to upload something then.  
_


	8. Chapter 8

_Still don't own Life with Derek. Anyone wanna give it to me?_

**xXx**

Since the first day night she spent at college, Casey's dorm had made her envious of the short time she had spent sharing a room with Lizzie after moving into the Venturi household. Between the two beds, desks and dressers there was barely room to walk around the room, which was only slightly larger than a closet to begin with.

Not to mention that Emily was a complete slob.

Casey had expected Derek to be enjoying the same living conditions as she was.

But, as he unlocked his door and pulled her gently in, she realized that his dorm room was less a suffocating hell and more a two bedroom apartment, complete with a small kitchen and living room.

And a private bathroom.

"_This_ is your room?" Casey gasped, throwing her purse down onto the makeshift table. "You said you were just staying in dorms this year!"

"I never said they were the cheap dorms," he whispered into her ear before entering the kitchen and putting the popcorn bag into the microwave.

"I have a room that resembles a closet! I have to share a shower with the rest of my floor!" Casey protested, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What you _don't_ have is a full hockey scholarship," Derek bragged, reaching out and pulling her close to him.

"That only covered your tuition, not housing," Casey pouted, leaning back away from Derek as his fingers grasped her hips.

"Loans," he replied simply, pressing his lips against her collarbone.

"You know that you have to pay those back, right?" Casey enquired, closing her eyes as his lips moved up her neck and she felt his teeth scratch against her earlobe.

"Yeah, I know," he replied, moving so his lips were only inches away from hers. "But not for a really, really long time."

Derek captured her lips after that and Casey finally gave in, uncrossing her arms and wrapping them around her neck. It had been the smell of burning popcorn that had finally made them pull apart, Derek cursing loudly as he pulled the bag out of the microwave.

"There are directions right on the bag, how do you screw up microwave popcorn?" Casey laughed, grabbing the DVD off the counter and walking over to the television and slipping it in.

"I was distracted," Derek protested, throwing the bag into the garbage before jumping over the back of the sofa to claim the middle.

"Do not even try to blame this on me!" she laughed, standing in front of him. He reached up and grabbed her wrist to pull her down next to him.

"You say that like it's a bad thing. Trust me, Casey, you can distract me all you want," Derek whispered, putting his hand around her shoulder and leaning in for a kiss.

"I'm flattered that I outrank microwave popcorn," Casey responded, grabbing the remote off the armrest and hitting play. "Ready?"

"I'm definitely ready," he replied, raising his eyebrow as he smirked. His hand snaked up to cup her breast and his lips found their way to hers. Casey let this continue for several minutes, enjoying the sensation building inside of her, before she finally pushed him away.

"I was talking about the movie," she clarified, waving the remote in front of his face.

"You want to make a movie? Didn't know you were _that_ kinky but if you _really_ want to..." Derek started, causing Casey to smack him in the chest as she glared over at him.

"You are such a pervert!" Casey declared.

"Was it that baberaider poster that gave it away?" Derek asked, motioning to its position on his wall. "God, do you still have that outfit?"

"Derek!"

"Just asking," he laughed.

"Moving on, I was talking about the movie we rented," she said, motioning towards the television where the opening credits had already begun to play.

"You were actually seriously about watching it, weren't you?" Derek pouted.

"What can I say, Captain Jack Sparrow does it for me," Casey joked, winking at Derek.

"Oh yeah?" Derek challenged, leaning closer to her.

"Definitely," Casey responded, turning her attention back to the movie.

"Can he do this?" Derek whispered into her ear, before tugging her into his lap so she was straddling him.

"Derek, what the hell are you doing?" Casey cried before he pulled her down into a kiss and dug his fingers into her hips.

"There is no way I'm going to let you pick a Disney character over me," Derek replied, his hands guiding her hips into grinding against him. Casey gasped at the pressure of his hardness against her.

"Movie!" Casey responded, pressing a hand against his chest and pushing her away from him. His hand, however, continued to guide her hips in their motion and Casey felt her breath start to become heavy and uneven.

"You sure?" he asked, his voice heavy with lust. Before Casey could answer she felt Derek buck up against her and let out a deep moan.

"Yes," she responded, her pride not wanting to let Derek win this round.

"Okay," he agreed, rolling her off him and into her former spot next to him on the couch.

"Wait, what?" Casey protested, staring at shock at him. Derek _never_ gave in that easy.

Hell, Casey was pretty that no part of her actually _wanted_ Derek to give in to her.

"You want to watch the movie," he replied innocently but she noticed the twinkle in his eye. Casey realized then that Derek hadn't given in at all. He realized how much she wanted this too. He was sure she would cave and jump him as soon as she lost his touch.

"Great," she smiled, turning her attention back to the television. She left her legs, however, draped over Derek's and let her head rest against his shoulder.

She felt him pout but he relaxed after Casey placed a sofa kiss at the corner of his neck.

**xXx**

Two hours later, Casey let out a loud yawn as the credits had begun to scroll across the screen.

"I'm sleepy," Casey mused, rolling closer into Derek's arms for comfort.

"Me to," he yawned, wrapping his arm tighter around her shoulder.

"Take me home," Casey requested, closing her eyes.

"Not a chance," he replied.

"What?" Casey demanded, pushing herself up and away from him. "You can't expect me to walk across campus at 4 in the morning!"

"I don't expect you to leave," Derek answered, standing up before scooping her up in his arms. "I have a very big bed."

"Promise to take me home first thing in the morning?" she asked, the desire to sleep anywhere outweighing her concern of what everyone would think in the morning.

"At the crack of dawn," he promised, opening his bedroom door and taking her into his room. It wasn't much different than his room at their house, completely cluttered and dirty. If Casey had been more awake she would have been disgusted by the fact that you could barely see the floor underneath his dirty clothes, several pizza boxes and scattered papers.

But in her current state, Casey couldn't bring herself to care. The bed appeared to be more or less clean and that's all that mattered.

"Okay," she gave in as he sat her down on his bed before turning to his dresser, whose drawers were hanging open with Derek's shirts overflowing from them. He pulled out one of his old hockey t-shirts out and threw it over at her.

"You can sleep in that," he explained as Casey stared at it.

"Okay," she answered, waiting for him to turn around.

"What?" he asked, pulling his own shirt over his head and throwing it to the ground.

"You don't expect me to let you watch me change, do you?" Casey asked.

"It's not like I've never seen you naked before," he deadpanned, as he began to unbuckle his pants.

"Stop! What are you doing?" Casey demanded, staring at his hand's current action. "And when the hell did you see me naked?"

"I sleep in my boxers, removing my pants is a process of getting down to them. And we lived together for four years, I saw you naked," Derek explained, kicking his pants off before turning his back to her. "You happy now?"

"No, I want to know how you saw me!" Casey enquired, reaching around to unzip her dress.

"The first few months after you moved in, you didn't always close your door when you changed if you didn't think anyone else was home," Derek explained as Casey pulled his shirt over her head. "And I had to walk by your room to get to mine."

"And you never thought to bring this to my attention?" Casey asked. "And I'm changed now."

"I didn't mind the view," he answered, turning to face her. His smirk disappeared as he saw her standing there in only his shirt. "Wow."

"What?" Casey asked, becoming self conscious.

"Nothing, let's just get some sleep," he replied, walking past her and crawling into bed. Casey quickly followed his example.

She had no sooner slipped under the covers when she felt Derek's arms wrap around her and pulled her close to him. She fell asleep with her head resting on his chest, the sound of his beating heart ringing in her ear.

Her last thoughts where of how much she could get used to this and her wondering what the hell she had just gotten herself into.

**xXx**

_So I'm incredibly, incredibly sorry that it took me this long to get the newest chapter off. I had no free time between my classes and work. I finally got the chance to write this last night after my brain was broken by writing java code all afternoon. This was a lovely way to reboot my sanity ;)_

_ On the plus side, I finally have gotten back in a nice rhythm so I should be able to get the next part out alot faster now than I'm organized._

_ And I was completely amazed at the fact I have 100+ reviews! You guys rock!  
_


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Big Epic Note....Kinda:** I started this fic two years ago and it's pretty obvious I abandoned it. That never really set right with me and ever since I've been re-working the story in my head. Fixing plot points, expanding on scenes and overall perfecting the storyline. There were some major changes, especially ones that will show up in later chapters, and the tone is different but I'm really happy with how it's turning out.

I'm finally read to actually put the new re-worked version together (which will be finished, i swear). Part One has been posted and you can read it here: .net/s/4876932/1/The_Secrets_in_the_Telling

Please go give it a read and some feedback. You know how that encourages me.


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